I must say I am shocked by the crowd at the Workers’ Party [WP] rally in Hougang. The field is just a few minutes short walk from Hougang MRT Station along the North East line, and even before I reach the actual position, the few of us – including my friend’s old mother who came without any free food – had a hard time getting into rally ground proper.

At the rally site, we joked that many of the people at the rally are just kaypohs (aka nosy parkers) since among the 7 of us, 4 came from areas where the Workers’ Party do not directly contest. I didn’t stay for the whole rally because I don’t want to leave when everyone is leaving as I have no faith in the ability of the MRT system to be able to take the load, neither do I want to let a taxi driver earn some easy money by calling for a cab.

I arrived late at around 7:40pm and left at 9:30 so I only heard a few people speak. Loud cheers went up when Mr Low Thia Khiang arrived, and more cheers went up when he introduce his protégé – Mr Yaw Shin Leong. My friend tried to cheer for Mr Yaw but he couldn’t get it going and I understood his intention since while Mr Low deserved our cheers, we can’t only cheer for him forever. That is perhaps something the Workers’ Party should work on.

Anyway, I managed to hear Miss Lee Lilian, Mr Yaw and Mr Chen Show Mao speak. Mr Chen spoke in several language, even greeted those present in Malay and Tamil. If I had any doubts that this is a son of Singapore, my doubts went out of the window. The crowd itself and my camera was quite a distraction so I didn’t remember everything that the candidates said.

One thing I did catch however, was Mr Yaw (I think it was him) imploring those who came from other constituencies where the WP is contesting to vote for the WP. He mentioned that it is rather disheartening to see a large turnout at the rallies many times, but the votes always came out otherwise. I sincerely hope that this won’t happen this time round since the stakes are so high. Even so, I am heartened by my fellow Singaporean’s increased political awareness. My concern is that the turnout at Hougang today may cause some voters to be taken in by the PAP’s scare mongering (i.e. of a so-called ‘freak result’) and vote for the PAP instead on May 7th. That would have created another kind of ‘freak result’, one in which the PAP gets a clean sweep in spite of its past few years of mismanagement in certain areas. So vote wisely, Singapore. Vote boldly. As Chen Show Mao says: Don’t be a cowardly lion!

The pictures I took at the rally doesn’t do the crowd present any justice. I should have taken a picture of the crowd standing behind me when I was leaving. Do note that that area behind me was empty when I arrived. By the time I was leaving I could see nothing else except people. It was an amazing night and I sincerely hope that our democracy is finally taking root and sprouting flowers of spring.

By the way, I got myself a blue Workers’ Party umbrella as a souvenir. Yaaaay!